The shock triumph of Donald Trump in the United States presidential election has made this much clear: the recent waves of chauvinism, bloodshed and xenophobia in countries as far apart as India, Israel, France, Turkey, Britain and Russia are here to be contended with for the foreseeable future. Retrograde, hate-filled, inequitable, exploitative and destructive ideologies have taken power in some of the world’s most powerful and populous countries.

Our hope in founding this platform is to facilitate new ideas for radically changed and dangerous times. This is a klaxon call to get together as never before and strengthen the struggle against these ideologies wherever we happen to be and in networks with people across the globe.

We reject the view that the present is no different from what has preceded it. We acknowledge continuities between older forms of exploitation, corporate greed, environmental destruction, populism and the forms in the ascendant now. We believe that the time has come to stop relying on the old familiar political formulae, and to forge new tools for thinking and action. The triumph and consolidation of retrograde populism and ecocidal capitalism must be countered across the globe.

To this end, all the dogmas of left and right, of anti-capitalism and neoliberalism, need to be reassessed and challenged, not least in relation to racism, misogyny, homophobia and other forms of lethal social hate which, while deeply tied up with economic forces, are not reducible to them. This goes along with a no less ruthless critique of the racism, xenophobia, misogyny and homophobia manipulated by the present-day magnates of corporate capitalism and tycoons of affluence, the 1% who own and control global wealth and power. We do not know what forms 21st century fascism will take, but we must no longer ignore the many warning signs.

Wildcat Dispatches: for Dangerous Times will offer a platform for short, sharp analyses of the dangerous present, along with brief comments and ‘encyclopaedia’ style entries offering clarity against the glib language of mainstream media which has rendered terms like ‘anti-elitism’ and ‘anti-establishment’ worse than meaningless.

We stand against narrow, superficial, reductive and sensationalist engagement with this political moment. We stand for economic and social justice, and for defending the planet’s environment against the destruction it faces. Along with many, many others across the world, we stand vigilant against the normalisation and consolidation of the forces of populism, authoritarianism, exploitation and chauvinism wherever and however they manifest themselves.

It is with grievous concern and the shame of those who see atrocities unfolding before them unimpeded that we at Wildcat Dispatches view the ongoing bombardment of the people of Aleppo, Syria, by the government of Bashar al-Assad, assisted and enabled by Russian military forces. Hundreds of thousands of civilians of all ages have been besieged, starved, detained, wounded, disappeared and massacred.

We join those across the globe who refuse to stay silent in the face of mass murder in demanding an immediate cessation to the bombing, and we call on the governments of Syria and Russia to be investigated for war crimes. As writers and activists who are committed to both anti-imperialism and internationalism, we reject lazy understandings of the former that conflate silence and inaction with resistance. We call upon all peoples and organisations everywhere to take cognisance of the situation and speak out against the bloodshed.